Lim Ga Ne [Toronto]

samgyeopsal (uncured pork belly)

sauces

banchan, fish cakes

banchan

I’m on this Korean food binge lately and I thought I ought to review a type of dish that hasn’t been featured on this blog yet and that is samgyeopsal (samɡjʌp̚sal). It’s basically pieces of pork belly (similar to uncured bacon) that is grilled fresh at your table via a table grill and garnished with sauces and wrapped with lettuce. The crisp edges of the grilled pork work wonderfully with the sauce and lettuce wrap, it is no wonder why this dish is a favourite among Korean food lovers.

There are no super complexities with the dish other than the fact that the best samgyeopsal comes from fresh-never-frozen pork. One thing to note for people new to the dish is that the meat is not marinated at all; the sauces are responsible for lending the pork most of its flavour. If you’re up for the prepping the ingredients and picking up the sauces from your local Asian supermarket, this is a relatively easy dish to do at home.

What I like about Lim Ga Ne is the marbling that you get with the pork pieces. Also, when the place isn’t too busy, the wait staff even help you cook the pork at the table. Their side dishes are pretty standard, however the fishcakes that they gave were very good with a bouncy texture to it. If you do end up coming, make sure to order some of their grilled mackerel, it was very fresh and grilled perfectly.

This location has two locations in Toronto, one in North York and the one near Christie Pitts Station (the one I tried). The one on Bloor is a tad pricier than the one in North York yet the quality of both are actually the same in my opinion.